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93-585: Initially conceived as an ice arena, the facility eventually became a large multi-purpose venue. It was nicknamed "the House of Suds" because of the large underwriting contribution of local tavern owner James Osborne. The name changed to Seattle Center Arena after the Century 21 Exposition (1962 World's Fair ). In 1995 the name changed again, to the Mercer Arena, due to its location on Mercer Street and to avoid confusion with

186-608: A chamber music performance by Isaac Stern , Milton Katims , Leonard Rose , Eugene Istomin , the Claiborne Brothers gospel quartet, and the Juilliard String Quartet ; two appearances by newsman Edward R. Murrow ; Bunraku theater; Richard Dyer-Bennet ; Hal Holbrook 's solo show as Mark Twain ; the Count Basie and Benny Goodman jazz orchestras; Lawrence Welk ; Nat King Cole ; and Ella Fitzgerald . Also during

279-627: A fixture of Seattle. It became the mascot of the Seattle SuperSonics National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise, which played in nearby KeyArena (now Climate Pledge Arena). The SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City on July 3, 2008. In 1982, the SkyLine level was added at the height of 100 ft (30 m). Although it was part of the original plans for the Space Needle, it was not built until that time. Today,

372-412: A free trip for two to Paris . In May 2008, the Space Needle received its first professional deep cleaning since the opening of the 1962 World's Fair. The monument was pressure washed by Kärcher with water at a pressure of almost 2,611 psi (18,000 kPa) and a temperature of approximately 194 °F (90 °C). The cleaning was only done at night so that the Space Needle could stay open to

465-606: A further "symphony of music and color". Under the same roof, the ALA exhibited a "library of the future" (centered on a Univac computer). GM exhibited its vision for highways and vehicles of the future (the latter including the Firebird III ). Pan Am exhibited a giant globe that emphasized the notion that we had come to be able to think of distances between major world cities in hours and minutes rather than in terms of chancy voyages over great distances. RCA (which produced "The Threshold and

558-480: A grand spiral entryway leading to the elevator that was ultimately omitted from final building plans. The main stairwell has 848 steps from the basement to the top of the observation deck. At approximately 605 ft (184 m), the Space Needle was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River at the time it was built by Howard S. Wright Construction Co., but is now dwarfed by other structures along

651-502: A light source although none was incorporated into the original design. It is somewhat controversial because of the light pollution it creates. Originally planned to be turned on 75 nights per year, it has generally been used fewer than a dozen times per year. It did remain lit for eleven days in a row from September 11, 2001, to September 22, 2001, in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks . A 1962 Seattle World's Fair poster showed

744-564: A new church building there; the church used the proceeds to purchase land in the Montlake neighborhood. The Warren Avenue School, a public elementary school with several programs for physically handicapped students, was torn down, its programs dispersed, and provided most of the site of the Coliseum (now Climate Pledge Arena). Near the school, some of the city's oldest houses, apartments, and commercial buildings were torn down; they had been run down to

837-734: A part-time basis; in 1992 it played host to the CHL's Memorial Cup when games at the Coliseum failed to draw their expected crowds. It hosted the Seattle SeaDogs of the Continental Indoor Soccer League in 1995 prior to their move to KeyArena. From 1996 to 1998, it was the home of the Seattle Reign , the city's first professional women's basketball franchise, a part of the American Basketball League . From 2000 to 2003, it

930-462: A permit application (Notice of Proposed Land Use Action) had been submitted "to construct a 666 unit cube to assimilate" the landmark. Other TV appearances include The History Channel 's Life After People , in which the tower collapses after 200 years because of corrosion . The tower was also destroyed in the TV miniseries 10.5 when a 7.9 earthquake hits Seattle. The miniseries mistakenly portrays

1023-406: A petition campaign, in the early 1950s to convince the city council to approve an $ 8.5 million bond issue to build the opera house and sports center needed to attract the fair. Eventually the council approved a $ 7.5 million bond issue with the state of Washington matching that amount. The fair was originally conceived at a Washington Athletic Club luncheon in 1955 to mark the 50th anniversary of

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1116-494: A proposal to convert the arena into use by the Seattle Opera . The building will contain administrative offices, rehearsal spaces and workshops for the company. Sharing a common wall with the opera's performance venue at McCaw Hall , the arena would allow sets to be built within the workshop, then transported directly to the stage. This would be the first company in the world to have such an amenity. The Seattle Opera moved to lease

1209-530: A rate of 10 mph (16 km/h). On December 31 , 1999, a powerful beam of light was unveiled for the first time. Known as the Legacy Light or Skybeam, it is powered by lamps that total 85 million candela shining skyward from the top of the Space Needle to honor national holidays and special occasions in Seattle. The concept of this beam was derived from the official 1962 World's Fair poster, which depicted such

1302-672: A recent visit to the Stuttgart Tower in Germany . Local architect John Graham soon became involved as a result of his success in designing Northgate Mall . Graham's first move was to alter the restaurant's original design to a revolving restaurant , similar to his previous design of the La Ronde tower restaurant at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Hawaii . Among the names proposed for

1395-627: A revolving glass floor. It takes 45 minutes for the observation deck to do a full rotation. Two sets of stairs called the Oculus Stairs were added to connect the two new levels. They were named after the glass oculus at the base of the stairs where the Space Needle elevators can be seen ascending and descending. A café, wine bar, more restrooms, and an additional accessibility elevator to the top observation deck were also added. The three elevators are scheduled to be replaced with new units from Otis —including two double-deck elevators for passengers—during

1488-529: A series of large paintings by Bill Holm introducing Northwest Native motifs. A US$ 15 million performing-arts program at the fair ranged from a boxing championship to an international twirling competition but with no shortage of nationally and internationally famous performers, especially at the new Opera House and Playhouse. After the fair, the Playhouse became the Seattle Repertory Theatre ; in

1581-444: A series of projections contrasted this "best of the future" to "the worst of the present" (over-uniform suburbs, a dreary urban housing project). The exhibit continued with a vision of future transportation (centered on a monorail and high-speed "air cars" on an electrically controlled highway). There was also an " office of the future ", a climate-controlled "farm factory", an automated offshore kelp and plankton harvesting farm,

1674-613: A symbol of the Pacific Northwest, the Space Needle has made numerous appearances in films, TV shows, and other works of fiction. The Space Needle is often used in establishing shots as an economical means of indicating the setting is Seattle. Examples include the TV shows Frasier , Grey's Anatomy , Dark Angel , Bill Nye the Science Guy , and films It Happened at the World's Fair (1962) and The Parallax View (1974) where it

1767-400: A vision of the schools of the future with "electronic storehouses of knowledge", and a vision of the many recreations that technology would free humans to pursue. Finally, the tour ended with a symbolic sculptural tree and the reappearance of the family in the fallout shelter and the sound of a ticking clock, a brief silence, an extract from President Kennedy's Inaugural Address , followed by

1860-630: Is now called Seattle Center ; the United States Science Pavilion is now the Pacific Science Center . Another notable Seattle Center building, the Museum of Pop Culture (earlier called EMP Museum), was built nearly 40 years later and designed to fit in with the fairground atmosphere. Seattle mayor Allan Pomeroy is credited with bringing the World's Fair to the city. He recruited community and business leaders, as well as running

1953-472: Is planned to be four stories tall and house 105,000 square feet (9,800 m) of space for offices, storage, scene assembly, and community spaces. The condemned arena was demolished in 2017. 47°37′26″N 122°20′58″W  /  47.62389°N 122.34944°W  / 47.62389; -122.34944 Century 21 Exposition The Century 21 Exposition (also known as the Seattle World's Fair )

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2046-524: Is secured to the foundation with 72 30 ft (9.1 m) long bolts. With time an issue, the construction team worked around the clock. The domed top, housing the top five levels (including the restaurants and observation deck), was perfectly balanced so that the restaurant could rotate with the help of one tiny electric motor, originally 0.8 kilowatts (1.1 hp), later replaced with a 1.1 kilowatts (1.5 hp) motor. Painted in Orbital Olive paint for

2139-472: The Acropolis and ending with an image of Marilyn Monroe . Next, visitors were beckoned into a cluster of cubes containing a model of a "city of the future" (which a few landmarks clearly indicated as Seattle) and its suburban and rural surroundings, seen first by day and later by night. The next cluster of cubes zoomed in on a vision of a high-tech, future home in a sylvan setting (and a commuter gyrocopter );

2232-407: The Mississippi River . The tower is 138 ft (42 m) wide, weighs 9,550 short tons (8,660 metric tons ), and is built to withstand winds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h) and earthquakes of up to 9.0 magnitude, as strong as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake . Elevators take visitors to an observation deck 520 ft (160 m) above ground in 41 seconds, which offers panoramic views of

2325-546: The Seattle SuperSonics and Seattle Mariners colors and logos. The Galaxy Gold paint scheme returned for the Space Needle's 60th anniversary in May 2022 and was replaced a year later at a cost of $ 60,000 to $ 70,000. A renovation of the top of the Space Needle began in the summer of 2017, to add an all-glass floor to the restaurant, replace the observation platform windows with floor-to-ceiling glass panels to more closely match

2418-527: The downtown Seattle skyline, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains , Mount Rainier , Mount Baker , Elliott Bay , and various islands in Puget Sound . On April 19, 1999, the city's Landmarks Preservation Board designated the tower a historic landmark. The architecture of the Space Needle is the result of a compromise between the designs of two people, Edward E. Carlson and John Graham, Jr. The two leading ideas for

2511-584: The 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition , but it soon became clear that that date was too ambitious. With the Space Race underway and Boeing having "put Seattle on the map" as "an aerospace city", a major theme of the fair was to show that "the United States was not really 'behind' the Soviet Union in the realms of science and space". As a result, the themes of space, science, and the future completely trumped

2604-423: The 1960s. Affluence, automation, consumerism, and American power would grow; social equity would simply take care of itself on a rising tide of abundance; the human race would master nature through technology rather than view it in terms of ecology. In contrast, 12 years later—even in far more conservative Spokane, Washington — Expo '74 took environmentalism as its central theme. The theme of Spokane's Expo '74

2697-507: The 1962 original concept sketches, as well as upgrade and update the internal systems. Called the Century Project, the work was scheduled to finish by June 2018, at a cost of $ 100 million in private funds provided by the Wright family, who own the Space Needle. The designer is Olson Kundig Architects and the general contractor is Hoffman Construction Company . The rotating restaurant's motor

2790-691: The Army Depot in Auburn —as was a site east of the city on the south shore of Lake Sammamish . The site finally selected for the Century 21 Exposition had originally been contemplated for a civic center. The idea of using it for the world's fair came later and brought in federal money for the United States Science Pavilion (now Pacific Science Center) and state money for the Washington State Coliseum (later Seattle Center Coliseum; renamed KeyArena in 1993 after

2883-493: The Howard Wright Company, which now controls it under the name of Space Needle Corporation. The concrete base of the Space Needle is 30 ft (9.1 m) deep and 120 ft (37 m) across, and took 467 redi-mix trucks one full day to fill. The foundation weighs 5,850 short tons (5,310 metric tons) (including 250 short tons or 230 metric tons of reinforcing steel), the same as the above-ground structure. The tower

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2976-590: The Masons. The building was eventually incorporated into a theater complex including the Seattle Children's Theatre . Paul Thiry was the fair's chief architect; he also designed the Coliseum building. Among the other architects of the fair, Seattle-born Minoru Yamasaki received one of his first major commissions to build the United States Science Pavilion. Yamasaki would later design New York's World Trade Center . Victor Steinbrueck and John Graham, Jr. designed

3069-570: The Seattle Center Coliseum's new name, KeyArena. Its large, flexible spaces allowed an average of 183 events each year. From 1962 until 1974 it was first home to the Seattle Totems of the minor professional Western Hockey League . The Seattle Thunderbirds of the modern junior Western Hockey League originally played their games in Mercer Arena before using the Coliseum beginning in 1989, although they continued to use Mercer Arena on

3162-589: The Seattle skyline alone, among them the Columbia Center , at 967 ft (295 m). Unlike many other similar structures, such as the CN Tower in Toronto, the Space Needle is not used for broadcasting purposes Edward E. Carlson, chairman of the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle, had an idea for erecting a tower with a restaurant at the World's Fair. The president of Western International Hotels , he had been inspired by

3255-582: The SkyCity restaurant, SpaceBase retail store, Skybeam installation, Observation Deck overhaul, lighting additions, and repainting. On New Year's Eve , the Space Needle hosts a fireworks show at midnight; Alberto Navarro , a fireworks artist from Bellevue, is the lead architect of the show, which is viewed by thousands from the Seattle Center grounds, and televised by KING-TV . In 2000, public celebrations were canceled because of perceived terror threats against

3348-600: The SkyLine Banquet Facility can accommodate groups of 20–360 people. On April 19, 1999, the Space Needle was designated as a city historic landmark by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board 37 years after it opened. It was the youngest historic landmark in the city. Renovations were completed in 2000 at a cost ($ 21 million) approximately the same in inflated dollars as the original construction price. Renovations between 1999 and 2000 included

3441-461: The Space Needle had collapsed, causing panicked people to call emergency services and forcing the station to apologize afterwards; the incident was compared to the 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds , which caused panic among some listeners. In 2015, public radio station KPLU 88.5 FM reported in the news story "Proposed Development To 'Assimilate' Seattle's Landmark Space Needle?" that

3534-685: The Space Needle stopped rotating as a result of the 9.2 earthquake in Alaska . In 1974, author Stephen Cosgrove's children's book Wheedle on the Needle imagined a furry creature called the Wheedle who lived on top of the Space Needle and caused its light to flash. Its closing quatrain is: There's a Wheedle on the Needle ;/ I know just what you're thinking / But if you look up late at night / You'll see his red nose blinking. The Wheedle has since become

3627-402: The Space Needle, completely enclosed in glass to allow observation of the musician playing the instrument. It was also capable of being played from a roll, like a player piano. The forty-four stentors (speakers) of the carillon were located underneath the Needle's disc at the 200-foot (61 m) level and were audible over the entire fairgrounds and up to ten miles (16 km) away. The carillon

3720-414: The Space Needle. Hideki Shimizu and Kazuyuki Matsushita designed the original International Fountain . Despite the plan to build a permanent civic center, more than half the structures built for the fair were torn down more or less immediately after it ended. One attempt to conserve installations from Century 21 was the creation of a replica "welcoming pole," a number of which originally stood tall over

3813-514: The Threat") exhibited television, radio, and stereo technology, as well as its involvement in space. The French government had an exhibit with its own take on technological progress. Finally, a Washington state tourist center provided information for fair-goers wishing to tour the state. The World of Commerce and Industry was divided into domestic and foreign areas. The former was sited mainly south of American Way (the continuation of Thomas Street through

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3906-412: The Threat", visitors rode a " Bubbleator " into the "world of tomorrow". Music "from another world" and a shifting pattern of lights accompanied them on a 40-second upward journey to a starry space bathed in golden light. Then they were faced briefly with an image of a desperate family in a fallout shelter , which vanished and was replaced by a series of images reflecting the sweep of history, starting with

3999-480: The World Fair involved businessman Edward E. Carlson 's sketch (on a napkin) of a giant balloon tethered to the ground (the gently sloping base) and architect John Graham 's concept of a flying saucer (that houses the restaurant and observation deck). Victor Steinbrueck introduced the hourglass profile of the tower and its tripod design, which resembles the isthmus that Seattle is situated on. The Space Needle

4092-563: The arena from the city, hoping to raise enough to convert the arena; the Great Recession of the late 2000s forced the opera company to put the project on hold in 2008, and to negotiate a lease-option extension with the city in 2010. In February 2016, the Seattle Opera unveiled plans for a $ 60 million facility to replace the Mercer Arena. The new building, named the Seattle Opera at the Center,

4185-565: The body, Astronaut White for the legs, Re-entry Red for the saucer, and Galaxy Gold for the roof, the Space Needle was finished in less than one year. It was completed in April 1962 at a cost of $ 4.5 million. The last elevator car was installed the day before the Fair opened on April 21. During the course of the Fair, nearly 20,000 people a day rode to the Observation Deck. Upon completion, the Space Needle

4278-412: The budgets nor the tight agreements on concept to realize that vision. In the end, he got exactly enough of a budget to design and build a 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m ) building suitable to hold a variety of exhibition spaces and equally suitable for later conversion to a sports arena and convention facility. During the festival, the building hosted several exhibits. Nearly half of its surface area

4371-518: The car of the future, the Ford Seattle-ite XXI . The Electric Power Pavilion included a 40 feet (12 m)-high fountain made to look like a hydroelectric dam , with the entrance to the pavilion through a tunnel in said "dam". The Forest Products Pavilion was surrounded by a grove of trees of various species, and included an all-wood theater and a Society of American Foresters exhibit. Standard Oil of California celebrated, among other things,

4464-1036: The center of this was the DuPen Fountain featuring three sculptures by Seattle artist Everett DuPen. The Fine Arts Pavilion (later the Exhibition Hall) brought together an art exhibition unprecedented for the West Coast of the United States . Among the 50 contemporary American painters whose works shown were Josef Albers , Willem de Kooning , Helen Frankenthaler , Philip Guston , Jasper Johns , Joan Mitchell , Robert Motherwell , Georgia O'Keeffe , Jackson Pollock , Robert Rauschenberg , Ad Reinhardt , Ben Shahn , and Frank Stella , as well as Northwest painters Kenneth Callahan , Morris Graves , Paul Horiuchi, and Mark Tobey . American sculptors included Leonard Baskin , Alexander Calder , Joseph Cornell , Louise Nevelson , Isamu Noguchi , and 19 others. The 50 international contemporary artists represented included

4557-419: The city sold naming rights to KeyCorp, the company doing business as KeyBank; renamed Climate Pledge Arena in 2021 after naming rights were sold to Amazon.com, Inc). Some of the land had been donated to the city by James Osborne in 1881 and by David and Louisa Denny in 1889. Two lots at Third Avenue N. and John Street were purchased from St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church , who had been planning to build

4650-576: The city, it has been designated a Seattle landmark . Located in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, it was built in the Seattle Center for the 1962 World's Fair , which drew over 2.3 million visitors. It is also near KOMO Plaza, the Studios of KOMO-TV ( ABC ), and KUNS-TV (former Univision , now The CW ). At 605 ft (184 m) high, the Space Needle was once the tallest structure west of

4743-516: The construction of the Space Needle and Alweg monorail , as well as several sports venues (Washington State Coliseum, now Climate Pledge Arena ) and performing arts buildings (the Playhouse, now the Cornish Playhouse ), most of which have since been replaced or heavily remodeled. Unlike some other world's fairs of its era, Century 21 made a profit. The site, slightly expanded since the fair,

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4836-557: The development of science, ranging from mathematics and astronomy to atomic science and genetics. The Spacearium held up to 750 people at a time for a simulated voyage first through the Solar System and then through the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond. Further exhibits presented the scientific method and the "horizons of science". This last looked at "Science and the individual", "Control of man's physical surroundings", "Science and

4929-400: The duration of the fair and which then returned to its previous use. It served as the site of the Century 21 Club. This membership organization, formed especially for the fair, charged $ 250 for membership and offered lounge, dining room, and other club facilities, as well as a gate pass for the duration of the fair. The city ended up leasing the property after the fair and in 1977 bought it from

5022-569: The earlier conception of a "Festival of the [American] West". In June 1960, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) certified Century 21 as a world's fair. Project manager Ewen Dingwall went to Moscow to request Soviet participation, but was turned down. Neither the People's Republic of China, Vietnam nor North Korea were invited. As it happened, the Cold War had an additional effect on

5115-426: The fact that the world's first service station opened in Seattle in 1907. The fair's Bell Telephone (now AT&T Inc. ) exhibit was featured in a short film called "Century 21 Calling...", which was later shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000 . There were also several religious pavilions. Near the center of all this was Seattle artist Paul Horiuchi 's massive mosaic mural, the region's largest work of art at

5208-612: The fair, Memorial Stadium hosted the Ringling Brothers Circus , Tommy Bartlett's Water Ski Sky and Stage Show, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans ' Western Show, and an appearance by evangelist Billy Graham . The fair and the city were the setting of the Elvis Presley movie It Happened at the World's Fair (1963), with a young Kurt Russell making his first screen appearance. Location shooting began on September 4 and concluded nearly two weeks later. The film would be released

5301-500: The fair. President John F. Kennedy was supposed to attend the closing ceremony of the fair on October 21, 1962. He bowed out, pleading a "heavy cold"; it later became public that he was dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis . The fair's vision of the future displayed a technologically based optimism that did not anticipate any dramatic social change, one rooted in the 1950s rather than in the cultural tides that would emerge in

5394-537: The fire and police alarm systems. The land, which originally had the neighborhood's fire station until 1921, was sold by the city for $ 75,000. At this point, only one year remained before the World's Fair would begin. The Needle was privately financed and built by the Pentagram Corporation, consisting of Bagley Wright , contractor Howard S. Wright , architect John Graham , Ned Skinner , and Norton Clapp . In 1977 Bagley, Skinner, and Clapp sold their interest to

5487-482: The following spring, long after the fair had ended. At the northeast corner of the grounds (now the KCTS-TV studios ), Show Street was the " adult entertainment " portion of the fair. Attractions included Gracie Hansen's Paradise International (a Vegas -style floor show (rivalled next door by LeRoy Prinz 's "Backstage USA")), Sid and Marty Krofft 's adults-only puppet show, Les Poupées de Paris , and (briefly, until it

5580-530: The ground to the underside of the structure, controlled by 12 operators standing on the platform as it was raised. The platform was made by Safway Services , a company specializing in unique construction scaffolding. One-sixth of the observation deck was closed at a time so that the Space Needle was never completely shut down to the public. The space reopened in August 2018 as the Loupe, an indoor observation deck with

5673-537: The ground. The Skyride was moved to the Puyallup Fairgrounds in 1980. The World of Science centered on the United States Science Exhibit. It also included a NASA Exhibit that included models and mockups of various satellites , as well as the Project Mercury capsule that had carried Alan Shepard into space. These exhibits were the federal government's major contribution to the fair. The United States Science Exhibit began with Charles Eames ' 10-minute short film The House of Science , followed by an exhibit on

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5766-431: The grounds), an area it shared with the World of Science. It included the Space Needle and what is now the Broad Street Green and Mural Amphitheater. The Hall of Industry and some smaller buildings were immediately north of American Way. The latter included 15 governmental exhibitors and surrounded the World of Tomorrow and extended to the north edge of the fair. Among the features of Domestic Commerce and Industry,

5859-436: The hovering disk of the Space Needle was home to two restaurants 500 ft (150 m) above the ground: the Space Needle Restaurant, which was originally named Eye of the Needle, and Emerald Suite. These were closed in 2000 to make way for SkyCity , a larger restaurant that features Pacific Northwest cuisine, which closed in 2017. In 1993, the elevators were replaced with new computerized versions. The new elevators descend at

5952-453: The ice rink were buried or removed, and the drop ceiling was removed creating a more acoustically sound environment. As the opera's occupation was only temporary, structural issues were not addressed and the arena was shut down after 2003. For concerts, it had a capacity between 5,000 and 8,000 depending on seating configuration. The building sat dormant from 2003 until its demolition in 2017. On December 4, 2007, Mayor Greg Nickels announced

6045-629: The likes of painters Fritz Hundertwasser , Joan Miró , Antoni Tàpies , and Francis Bacon , and sculptors Henry Moore and Jean Arp . In addition, there were exhibitions of Mark Tobey's paintings and of Asian art, drawn from the collections of the Seattle Art Museum; and an additional exhibition of 72 "masterpieces" ranging from Titian , El Greco , Caravaggio , Rembrandt , and Rubens through Toulouse-Lautrec , Monet , and Turner to Klee , Braque , and Picasso , with no shortage of other comparably famous artists represented. A separate gallery presented Northwest Coast Indian art , and featured

6138-407: The massive Interiors, Fashion, and Commerce Building spread for 500 feet (150 m)—nearly the entire Broad Street side of the grounds—with exhibits ranging from 32 separate furniture companies to the Encyclopædia Britannica . Vogue produced four fashion shows daily alongside a perfumed pool. The Ford Motor Company , in its pavilion, presented a simulated space flight and its vision for

6231-402: The mid-1980s it became the Intiman Playhouse . When the Intiman Theatre became financially unstable, Cornish College of the Arts took over the lease from the city of Seattle, and now operates it as the Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center. Scheduled groups performing at the Opera House included: Source: Events and performances at the Playhouse included Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre ;

6324-424: The offseason between September 2023 and May 2025. For the first several months of construction, a temporary enclosure was added above the roof. Six parachutists have leaped from the tower since its opening, in a sport known as BASE jumping . This activity is legal only with prior authorization. Four of them were part of an authorized promotion in 1996, and one of the jumpers broke a bone in her back while attempting

6417-407: The organization's resources toward the coffee company. As a visual symbol of Seattle, the Space Needle has been incorporated into the logos of NBA (Seattle Supersonics logo used from 1995 to 2001) WNBA , MLS , and NHL professional sports teams. The Space Needle has been involved in practical jokes , especially those on April Fools' Day . In 1989, KING-TV 's Almost Live! reported that

6510-456: The point of being known as the "Warren Avenue slum". The old Fire Station No. 4 was also sacrificed. As early as the 1909 Bogue plan , this part of Lower Queen Anne had been considered for a civic center. The Civic Auditorium (later the Opera House, now McCaw Hall ), the ice arena (later Mercer Arena ), and the Civic Field (rebuilt in 1946 as the High School Memorial Stadium ), all built in 1927 had been placed there based on that plan, as

6603-409: The problem of world population ", and "Man's concept of his place in an increasingly technological world". The Washington State Coliseum, financed by the state of Washington, was one of Thiry's own architectural contributions to the fairgrounds. His original conception had been staging the entire fair under a single giant air-conditioned tent-like structure, "a city of its own", but there were neither

6696-521: The public due to state proof of vaccination rules, and the television broadcast included augmented reality effects. In 2002, a real estate consultant in Bellevue proposed the construction of five smaller replicas of the Space Needle around the city to promote tourism, though official plans to build the proposed structures have not yet materialized. On May 19, 2007, the Space Needle welcomed its 45 millionth visitor, Greg Novoa from California, who received

6789-433: The public. No detergents were used in consideration of the Seattle Center and the nearby Experience Music Project . As part of the celebration of its 50th anniversary in April 2012, the roof of the Needle was painted "Galaxy Gold", which is more of an orangish color in practice. This is the same color used when the needle was originally constructed for the 1962 World's Fair. This temporary makeover, intended to last through

6882-666: The southern entrance to the fair. This replica stood outside the Washington State Capital Museum until 1990, when it was taken down. The grounds of the fair were divided into: Source: Besides the monorail , which survives as of 2023 , the fair also featured a Skyride that ran 1,400 feet (430 m) across the grounds from the Gayway to the International Mall. The bucket-like three-person cars were suspended from cables that rose as high as 60 feet (18 m) off

6975-471: The structure after investigations into the foiled millennium bombing plots , but the fireworks show was still held. The 2020 fireworks display was canceled and replaced by a light show due to high winds, while the 2021 display was canceled and replaced by a broadcast-only augmented reality show due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The fireworks display returned for 2022, but the Seattle Center grounds were closed to

7068-470: The structure by Carlson, Graham, and Steinbrueck were the "Space Needle", "Star Tickler", "Top Hat", and "Big Skookum ". The proposed Space Needle had no pre-selected site. Since it was not financed by the city, land had to be purchased within the fairgrounds. The investors had been unable to find suitable land and the search for a site was nearly dead when, in 1961, they discovered a lot, 120 by 120 ft (37 by 37 m), containing switching equipment for

7161-459: The stunt. The other two jumped illegally and were arrested. Paul D. Baker was the first person to jump from the Space Needle, committing suicide on March 4, 1974. Mary Lucille Wolf also jumped from the tower that year, on May 25. Following the two 1974 suicides, netting beneath and improved fencing around the observation deck were installed. In spite of the barrier additions, however, another suicide by Dixie Reeder occurred on July 5, 1978. As

7254-582: The summer, is not the Needle's first: it had the University of Washington (UW) Huskies football team logo painted after the team won the 1992 Rose Bowl . When the game show Wheel of Fortune taped episodes in Seattle in 1995, it was painted to resemble the titular wheel as part of an intro sequence with Vanna White , It was painted crimson after Washington State won the Apple Cup , was painted red, white, and blue for Memorial Day in 2003, and has been seen with

7347-527: The time of cold war era. Other pavilions included one featuring Brazilian tea and coffee; a European Communities Pavilion from the then six countries of the European Economic Community ; and a joint pavilion by those countries of Africa that had by then achieved independence. Sweden's exhibit included the story of the salvaging of a 17th-century man-of-war from Stockholm harbor, and San Marino's exhibit featured its postage stamps and pottery. Near

7440-432: The time, which now forms the backdrop of Seattle Center's Mural Amphitheater. Foreign exhibits included a science and technology exhibit by Great Britain, while Mexico and Peru focused on handicrafts, and Japan and India attempted to show both of these sides of their national cultures. The Taiwan and South Korea pavilions showed their rapid industrialization to the world and the benefits of capitalism over communism during

7533-566: Was "Celebrating Tomorrow's Fresh New Environment.". Once the fair idea was conceived, several sites were considered. Among the sites considered within Seattle were Duwamish Head in West Seattle ; Fort Lawton (now Discovery Park ) in the Magnolia neighborhood; and First Hill —even closer to Downtown than the site finally selected, but far more densely developed. Two sites south of the city proper were considered— Midway , near Des Moines , and

7626-456: Was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington , United States. Nearly 10 million people attended the fair during its six-month run. As planned, the exposition left behind a fairground and numerous public buildings and public works; some credit it with revitalizing Seattle's economic and cultural life ( see History of Seattle since 1940 ). The fair saw

7719-640: Was an armory (the Food Circus during the fair, later Center House). The fair planners also sought two other properties near the southwest corner of the grounds. They failed completely to make any inroads with the Seattle Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, who had recently built Sacred Heart Church there; they did a bit better with the Freemasons ' Nile Temple, which they were able to use for

7812-481: Was built to withstand Category 5 -plus wind speeds of 200 mph (320 km/h), double the requirements in the building code of 1962, swaying only 1 inch (25 mm) per 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) of wind speed. While the 2001 6.8 M w   Nisqually earthquake jolted the Needle enough for water to slosh out of the toilets in the restrooms, the structure is designed to avoid serious structural damage in earthquakes of magnitudes below 9.1. For decades,

7905-403: Was disassembled after the fair's close. The Carillon Americana was featured on a 12-track LP record called "Bells On High-Fi" (catalog number AR-8, produced by Americana Records, of Sellersville, Pennsylvania ). These studio recordings were performed by noted carillonneur John Klein (1915-1981). A radio broadcast studio was built on the observation level of the Space Needle in 1963. It

7998-478: Was installed in the Space Needle, and played several times a day during the World's Fair. The instrument, built by the Schulmerich Bells Company of Hatfield, Pennsylvania under the name "Carillon Americana", recreated the sounds of 538 bells and was the largest in the world , until eclipsed by a 732 bell instrument at the 1964 New York World's Fair . The operator's console was located in the base of

8091-483: Was occupied by the state's own circular exhibit "Century 21—The Threshold and the Threat", also known as the "World of Tomorrow" exhibit, billed as a "21-minute tour of the future". The building also housed exhibits by France, Pan American World Airways (Pan Am), General Motors (GM), the American Library Association (ALA), and RCA , as well as a Washington state tourist center. In "The Threshold and

8184-410: Was replaced, the elevator capacity was increased by adding elevators or double-stacking them, and the energy efficiency of the building was improved with the aim of achieving LEED Gold Certification . The temporary scaffold's 28,000-pound (13,000 kg), 44,650-square-foot (4,148 m ) platform under the top structure was assembled on the ground and then lifted by cables 500 ft (150 m) from

8277-651: Was shut down) a show featuring naked "Girls of the Galaxy". Tamer entertainment came in forms such as the Paris Spectacular wax museum , an elaborate Japanese Village, and the Hawaiian Pavilion. 47°37′17″N 122°21′03″W  /  47.62139°N 122.35083°W  / 47.62139; -122.35083 Space Needle The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle , Washington , United States. Considered to be an icon of

8370-739: Was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River, replacing the Kansas City Power and Light Building which had held that distinction since 1931. It also replaced the Smith Tower in downtown Seattle as the tallest building on the American west coast, which it had been since 1914. The revolving restaurant was operated by Carlson's Western International Hotels under a 20-year contract from April 1, 1962, to April 1, 1982. An imitation carillon (using recordings of bells , rather than live bells)

8463-540: Was used as a filming location, and Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Chronicle (2012). In the 1999 film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me made an absurdist visual gag conflating another icon of Seattle, Starbucks , with the tower, showing the coffee chain's name written across the Space Needle's saucer placing the villain Doctor Evil 's base of operations there after his henchman Number 2 shifted

8556-476: Was used as a temporary venue for the Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet during construction of McCaw Hall , the new opera house. $ 6 million of improvements were put into the building to house the opera. New additions like heating and cooling systems, orchestra pit, and carpet were installed. The general infrastructure was reworked as well. The general purpose stage was reworked to a more traditional opera setting, old pipes that were used to freeze water for

8649-410: Was used for morning broadcasts by Radio KING and its sister TV station KING-TV from July 1963 to May 1966, and KIRO Radio from 1966 to 1974. Disc jockey Bobby Wooten of country music station KAYO-AM lived in an apartment built adjacent to the Space Needle's broadcast studio for six months in 1974, which required a permit variance from the city government. On March 27, 1964, the restaurant atop

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